Great questions! We know Iran & cohort in crime Syria are both behind the exported jihadic terrorism inside Iraq in an effort to drag US & allies directly in the middle of a full scale inter-Islamic civil war. What you stated concerning Iraq could very well be the trigger point, and or some insane sneak attempt against Israel, which would result in instant rather large parking lot were the entire brutal Mullah régime rules currently.
A confrontation with British naval vessels may be another contributing factor, since after Israel and US, Tehran's tyrants hate the British based on the old oil politics after WWI.
My main concern in the coming showdown with Iran is, unless prevented by our troops or people we have on the ground inside Iran, the Mullah madmen could order waves of missiles to be launched directly into the largest Saudi oil field directly across the Persian Gulf hoping to ignite millions of gallons of highly flammable petroleum products, coupled with reserves of natural gas & the interconnecting pipelines.
Such an attack, if the oil field and refineries were enveloped in an out of control roaring blaze, would send total panic through global markets, which the Iranian fanatics would do if the jihadic régime knew, that's it they are going to be captured or killed.
My concern is based on ongoing general energy market trader fear, that even though the last two attempts to blow up the massive Abqaiq oil compound failed never-the-less the terrorist attempts shot crude up than $2 a barrel, which on a straight futures contract equals 2K a contract in under an hour's worth of trading.
Talk about a vivid indication of the fear factor kicking in if traders actually saw "live" TV footage of the world's largest petroleum facility enveloped in 10.000 degrees petrol inferno. Stocks, the bond and currency markets, everyone will be go nutso, each one trying to unload and buy quicker then the schlub next to him.
9-11 was all about bring the America led Western global economy to her knees, and the Islamic killers also wanted to murder everyone in the White House and up on the Hill, in other words decapitate the leadership of American government plus create a instant world-wide financial meltdown.
You know what's worse? I have noticed an almost total lack of interest in this overall volatile subject which effects everyone, as if to say, if we don't think, discuss it, or make an attempt to fathom the situations, maybe, just maybe nothing will transpire - pre-911 mindset, phase II. On the other hand, you responded with great plausible overviews which I feel could indeed interplay into a far great conflict.
Geez now you can have a nice happy weekend after reading that stuff! lol. Thanks for your comment on the home page. There's too much on there though. I need to make sure everything still functions.